However pragmatic you are, it is very demanding being a new parent.

Having a child is arguably the most important thing you do in life.

It is important that legislation keeps pace with scientific progress.

Parents should talk to their children, even when they are babies and can't talk back.

Surgeons always underestimate the pain and disability involved in what they do to people.

I like travelling on my own. It means I'm completely free to think about what's around me.

Our aggression is a deep instinct which survives in all kinds of manifestations in modern man.

There needs to be clearer communication for the public avout how valuable it [animal testing] is

Ethics is not routinely taught to science students except in medicine, and I think it should be.

I love the French detective series 'Spiral.' It's quite brutal to watch, but I'm already hooked.

By discovering how our minds work, we can improve our learning power and unlock our true potential.

You can now modify the genes of large animals, and the largest animal we are concerned with is the human.

A young woman in her teens has about 300,000 eggs in her ovaries. By the time she is menopausal, none are left.

I don't know whether it is important to study science at a young age, though current thinking emphasises the need.

My own field, the prevention of genetic disorders in babies, has been possible only because of humane work on animals.

I don't think we will find a cure for all cancers in the next 50 years let alone 20. I think it's foolishness to say that.

There were never any doctors in my family. But my grandparents and my mother had a strong social conscience that was formative.

My father died when I was nine, but I came from a stable family environment, which I think does contribute to being well-behaved.

My first vote was for a communist in east London when I was a medical student. But I've voted Tory, Labour and Lib Dem in my time.

I don't believe the fertilised egg can be equated with the sort of human life that you and I represent, or our children represent.

Whether you're religious or not, there is a real need for other people's religious positions to be treated with the upmost respect.

Robots may cut down on infection and mean a consultant can see more patients, but wouldn't you rather meet the doctor than a machine?

I think that good parenting should allow children to be children. That naivety and slightly open way of looking at the world is very valuable.

I do not know of any credible evidence that suggests Dr. Zavos can clone a human being. This seems to be yet another one of his claims to get publicity.

It is possible that strong levels of belief in God, gods, spirits or the supernatural might have given our ancestors considerable comforts and advantages.

Neuroscience is now a very important research area in biology. We are now understanding a lot more about brains in babies, as well as children and adults.

I do not know of any credible evidence that suggests Dr Zavos can clone a human being. This seems to be yet another one of his claims to get repeated publicity.

I went to school with butterflies of fear every day for years - from primary school onwards - not just worried about being bullied by classmates, but by teachers.

One of the most important aspects of what makes us who we are is neither straight genes or straight environment but actually what happens to us during development.

You can't be judgmental about babies. They are all have different needs. I was left with an enduring hatred of cheese because it was forced down me when I was young.

Although religion might be useful in developing a solid moral framework - and enforcing it - we can quite easily develop moral intuitions without relying on religion.

In reality, both religion and science are expressions of man's uncertainty. Perhaps the paradox is that certainty, whether it be in science or religion, is dangerous.

When I grew up, we didn't have a TV, and I think more families today have ambitions of getting out of their environment, such as sending their children to university.

I think scientific arrogance really does give a great degree of distrust. I think people begin to think that scientists like to believe that they can run the universe.

It is time my colleagues got real. All British universities doing worthwhile research use animals, and, instead of hiding, they should be boasting of their achievements.

I don't like being a celebrity, really... Some people get greater praise than they deserve because they have had exposure in the media. I don't think I agree with that at all.

That Britain today is a liberal society is largely because of the philosophy and outlook of the Anglican Church, which did so much to shape our core values in the past few centuries.

Far too many scientists, including my good friend Richard Dawkins, present science as the truth and present it as factually correct. And actually, of course, that clearly isn't true.

Some people, both scientists and religious people, deal with uncertainty by being certain. That is dangerous in the fundamentalists and it is dangerous in the fundamentalist scientists.

I actually don't mind whether people can choose the sex of the baby - in fact humans have been trying to do it for 3,000 years. But there is a real issue about the safety of the technique.

I don't like seeing myself on television and I don't enjoy filming. What I actually enjoy is thinking about how I am going to express something or how we are going to make the visual metaphor.

Over the past 20 years, I have presented many science programmes on BBC1. But none is, I think, more socially important, or of more human interest, than this ongoing series of 'Child of Our Time.'

It's hard to be a good doctor if you don't think about the social circumstances of who you're treating. There are many Tory doctors, but I think it's difficult to be a doctor and a genuine right-winger.

I don't think you can impose limits on science because the very nature of homo sapiens is that he - she - is an inquisitive species. You can't control science. You have to control the effects of science.

To build and strengthen new connections, the brain needs the challenge of fresh and unusual stimuli. .... There's a lot of evidence to suggest that repetition is bad for brain health, and novelty is good.

It's very clear from Biblical history and Jewish history that Jewish monotheism wasn't developed in an instant, that it became gradually the accepted norm. But undoubtedly, Jewish ancestors were polytheists.

Scientists need to be prepared to engage, and the best people to engage with are students, ideally from primary school because there's no question that their capacity to work out complex things is extremely good.

Scientists tend to build a reputation on refuting the theories of those who have gone before. Yet, whatever we hypothesize, observe, measure or record about the natural world, it leaves more unanswered questions.

I was born with my moustache and, no, I've never been tempted to shave it off. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about my face and, like Gilbert and Sullivan's Katisha, my best feature is my left shoulder-blade.

We are more dependent on science and engineering than at any other time in history. However, there is plenty of evidence that far too many people are scientifically illiterate, often having been put off science at school.

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